The fifth practice in following the Way of Love is the practice of Blessing. This practice, perhaps more than any other practice in the Way of Love’s seven practices, is often misunderstood to be a special “reserved practice” for clergy or those who have made the “religious life” their daily life’s work. Several years ago, while serving at my first church as associate pastor, a very busy Sunday morning before worship required me to find someone to read the first Scripture lesson and say a blessing for the planting of a new tree in the church yard. With limited time available, I decided to “divide and conquer” these tasks – I asked the newly arrived Deacon to join the church school group outside and bless the tree, while I searched for a reader. After successfully finding a willing reader, I made my way to prepare for the upcoming service…only to be greeted by a frantic Sunday School Director, who was certain the tree would not be blessed before the service! I assured her I sent the Deacon to say the blessing; and she replied, “Yes, the Deacon is standing next to the tree, but refuses to bless the tree because they taught all the students in Deacon school, only Priests can do that!” Off to the tree I went, said the blessing, and then, after Sunday services, I assured the Deacon that God does not hear the blessings of Priests alone…that all of God’s children are sources of the eternal and perfect Love of God, and the blessings of everyone are heard quite equally. I am very happy to say that Bishop Budde shares this idea of blessings in her chapter of the practice of Blessing. To bless is to invite the reality of God’s Love and Goodness into our awareness; often a state of God’s presence that already exists, but perhaps we are still working toward that reality. It is like the picture above: the dim light of early sunrise hides many features and marks of beauty that exist in God’s world, and the blessings of light bring all these marks and moments of Love to our waking consciousness. To bless is a powerful practice of the Way of Love.

The third practice in following the Way of Love is the practice of Prayer. Bishop Mariann Budde addresses the practice of Prayer in the third chapter of her book, “Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love.” I have always found the practice of prayer to be a complex topic to address – and not because prayer is a difficult skill to master, but because prayer is often a misunderstood practice. A practice of simply “spending time with God” that most people believe they “should” be very good at, but in fact, they are not…so, sadly, the topic is put off for another day…and one’s life of prayer is delayed and delayed and delayed. Prayer is most often different for different people; and for the same person, prayer is different from one day to the next. One of the biggest barriers to an active and fruitful prayer life is to assume that “prayer” means one thing, or even a few things, and that all types of prayer work for all types of people. Just as different types of food, different forms of exercise, or different places for vacation give us varieties of joy and feed our souls, so it is with prayer. And once you have discovered the form of prayer that brings you close to God, you must learn to make it a frequent practice. Bishop Budde addresses all these aspects of prayer in chapter three with wonderful insight.

The second chapter of Mariann Budde’s book, “Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love” describes the spiritual practice (and life practice) of Learning. The idea of “learning” in the context of spiritual practices can often become narrowly focused on one definition, albeit an important one: learning Scripture. I am pleased to read in Bishop Budde’s discussion of the practice of learning that she goes beyond the reading of Scripture. She begins and ends with this vital spiritual practice, but she reaches beyond to the world around us and she stretches our imaginations in ways that encourage the reader to look at the many aspects of our lives. The varieties of opportunities for learning help us grow in unique and organic ways, and in ways that bring us closer to God.

The first chapter of Mariann Budde’s book, “Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love” describes the practice of Turning. Budde begins her chapter by saying, “when someone calls us, we turn our gaze.” And in the spiritual practice of prayer, turning our gaze means turning away from the things that have been absorbing our attention and turning toward God. And when we turn, we find God always waiting for us…as she quotes former Archbishop Rowan Williams, “God is more interested in us than we are in God.” God is always faithful, always loving, and always waiting for us to turn our attention toward developing a deep and intimate relationship with the divine presence of God.